Texas/Carolina Rigging for Lakes

I’m out of my element when it comes to soft plastics. Give me a fly rod, and I’m good to go…..however, I do fish the central lakes area often, and I wanted some input from the warmwater guys on Texas and Carolina rigging.

I understand the basic premise of how these two systems work, but any input on what types of plastics – sizes and colors would be helpful.

The reason I ask is that my annual fishing trip in June has been difficult for pike (and especially bass) due to crappy water temperatures (and levels last year). The group I fish with is into trolling a variety of Rapala type lures, as well as pitching spinner baits. I have a bit of a theory that we’re missing a lot of fish because the water temps have shut the bite down a bit, so, I guess, that’s why I’m interested in doing more rigging to slow things down and see if we can pick fish up that way.

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys!

-D.A.

Theres no need to get fancy if you haven’t spent much time with plastics. Start by pitching jig worms around dock and weed edges. This will be a great starting point. There are many forms of jig heads. I prefer mushroom jigs. If you fish areas with alot of cover they can be purchased weedless. From there you can move on to Texas/Carolina rigs. Start simple when you slow things down.

Good Luck! Hope this helps.

Lizards or a Zoom centipede Watermelon Seed in clear water

I like throwing a 7″ worm or a lizard texas rigged. June can be tricky, if it’s early June they will probably be found along the shoreline structure, if it’s late June they might be moving to the deeper weed edges. I think I have variety of “old” plastics that I would be willing to donate to the cause if you are interested.

At this time of year I look for bass around the inside weedlines. I keep it simple, I like the 1/8 Jig worm with a 4″ worm(black). Also I switch it up a bit and throw a Texas rigged (unweighted)Senko in 5″ or 4″ will work. You cant go wrong with a watermelon red flake, this color will work in stained or clear water. As far as the Carolina rig I will us this where the sand and weeds meet. I will put a Senko or a 5″ lizard on this rig. Colors in the lizard is always Pumpkin Chrt. tail. Hope this will help